Vahanvati denies seeing CBI report, let alone changing it

He also denied he has a copy of the report or that he ever saw it

In a twist to the ongoing story on who in the government changed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) status report on the coal block allocation scam, Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati on Wednesday said he never interfered with the report. He also denied having seen or kept a copy of the report.

Former Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval, who resigned from the post on Tuesday, had accused Vahanvati of having tampered with the report. In a letter to Vahanvati, Raval had written: “Certain suggestions were made, including by you, to the CBI, some of which were accepted. No suggestions emanated from me.”  

In his letter on Monday, Raval, who was representing the CBI in the case, alleged that he was being made a scapegoat by Vahanvati. Raval said he wrote the letter to clear the air surrounding the statement made in the Supreme Court on March 12.

On March 12, both the attorney general and the additional solicitor general had told the court that the coal report was not shared by the CBI with any political executive. But subsequently, the CBI director in an affidavit told the SC that the coal scam report was shared with the law minister and two officers from the Prime Minister’s Office and the coal ministry.